Top News for July 28, 2014

Two of the biggest real-estate web sites are merging: Zillow is buying Trulia for $3.5 billion in an all-stock deal. Both Trulia and Zillow brands will be preserved. Read more at marketingland.com.

According to GigaOm, Samsung is delaying the release of its own Tizen operating system, which was set to launch in Russia on a device called the Samsung Z. Previously scuttled in Japan, the operating system has shown up on Samsung smart watches and cameras, but Samsung says it needs to develop a bigger app store before the OS is released on a phone. Read more at gigaom.com.

Amazon launched a new online store today for 3D-printed products. Customers can order and customize bobble heads, jewelry, smartphone cases and other products, which will be printed by one of Amazon’s sellers, then shipped. Read more at reuters.com.

Apple is purchasing two young companies--BookLamp and Swell--aimed at creating streaming online services for books and talk radio, respectively, according to TechCrunch and Re/Code. According to the reports, the BookLamp deal is closed, and the Swell deal is very close to finished. Both use a Pandora-like model and simple interfaces to stream content, and with Apple CarPlay on the horizon, it's clear that Apple is getting ready to fight both Amazon and Google for the streaming experience both in-car and out. Read more at recode.net.

9to5 Mac’s Mark Gurman reports evidence that Amazon may be getting ready to launch its own Square-like mobile credit card reading hardware product within the next few weeks. The evidence comes in the form of internal documents from retailer Staples, which plans to stock a new product called the Amazon Card Reader, which will be placed next to card readers from Square, PayPal and Staples itself. Read more at 9to5mac.com.

Hilton hotels are investing a huge truckload of money -- $550 million -- to allow guests to use their phones to select their rooms from their phones and use their phones as keys to enter their rooms, helping the hotels compete against rivals also investing in digital keys, and to help ease clogged lines at check-in and check-out. The Wall Street Journal says that the hotel chain will make its announcement later this week. Read more at wsj.com.